Hypertension and smoking are common medical problems in the primary care setting. Together they interact to increase the incidence of cardiovascular disease. It is important to examine their relationship because smoking cessation may reduce cardiovascular risk by improvement of blood pressure. It may also reduce cardiovascular risks by effects on coagulation, lipid peroxidation, or mechanisms yet to be determined. Therefore, this study will explore if smoking cessation, a non-pharmacologic preventative measure, lowers blood pressure in postmenopausal hypertensive women. Postmenopausal women were chosen because of the increasing prevalence of systolic hypertension with aging.